Far right AfD leader Alice Weidel has announced she will not be speaking at the Oxford Union on November 7th. The cancellation comes following an outcry against the decision by the Oxford Union to invite her to speak.

Kate Douglas from Oxford Stand Up To Racism said "This is an important victory for anti-racists. We were expecting hundreds to join our protest, and the cancellation shows that anti-racists can make a difference if they organise and mobilise. The Stand Up To Racism campaign united campaigers, councillors, academics, trade unionists, students and Oxford residents, and drew the support of the local Labour MP. All oppose the Oxford Union giving a platform to a representative of a party that is deeply racist and has Nazi members. The AfD has built it's fortunes on the racist scapegoating of Muslims, migrants and refugees and played a key role in neo-Nazis hunting migrants on the streets of Chemnitz. Already we face a sharp rise in racist attacks and didn't want racism being fuelled here."

Weyman Bennet, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, said " Across the world we are seeing a rise in racism and the far right. Far right and fascists seek the prestige of institutions like the Oxford Union to legitimise their racist views. Wherever racism is given credibility it emboldens racists to launch attacks, as was the case in the horrific murder of 11 Jews at their synagogue in Pittsburgh. In the UK the far right and fascists are trying to reorganise to build a street movement around EDL founder Tommy Robinson. We have to say 'Never Again' and call on all anti-racists to support the call by Dianne Abbott MP and John McDonnel MP to join the TUC backed Unity march against racism and fascism on November 17th."

This week it came to light that the AfD have used a picture of Holocaust survivor and veteran Anti Nazi League and Unite Against fascism supporter Leon Greenham in a photo claiming that the AfD is a victim of left win oppression. This is a foul abuse of a man whose wife and son were murdered in Auschwitz. Leon spent his life campaigning to stop fascism growing again and would no doubt have supported our protest against the AfD speaker at the Oxford Union.

This Thursday Oxford Stand Up To Racism wil be hosting a special screening of "Everything Must Fall" about the campaign to challenge racism in South Africa's Universties. This is a great opportunity for anti-racists to come together to celebrate our own victory to keep the AfD speaker off campus and to discuss what else can be done to challenge the rise in racism and fascism.

The student movement Rhodes Must Fall (#RhodesMustFall, #RMF) garnered much media attention in March of 2015, after Chumani Maxwele of the movement defiled a Rhodes statue on the UpperCampus of the University of Cape Town (UCT) with faeces.

Instead of succumbing to public pressure and media scrutiny, the movement became further radicalised and escalated their calls for decolonisation of the institution, starting with removal of the Rhodes statue. The ideological struggle of removing the statue became explosive and triggered national debate on social media under the banner #RhodesMustFall. Exactly one month after the cataclysmic event, on 9 April 2015, the Rhodes statue was taken down by the University. This event marked a symbolic shift in the discourse of South Africa, to one more decolonial in character.

The power of the Rhodes Must Fall movement resonated around the world. In Oxford, students launched their own RMF campaign to decolonise Oxford University and to challenge the institutional racism here. The University continues to resist calls for the Rhodes statue to be removed and continues to be publicly criticised for its discrimination against Black applicants, students and lecturers. Students successfully forced the Oxford Union to admit it was institutionally racist, yet the Oxford Union continues to honour racist and fascist speakers with a platform, including the fascist thug Tommy Robinson, Nazi Marine le Pen, and now the far right Alice Weidel.

We are witnessing an unprecedented growth in racism and far right activity not seen since the 1930s. Racists and fascists, emboldened by racist pronouncements by mainstream politicians like Trump, Bolsonaro and Boris Johnson, have launched racist attacks, including the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

Join us at the film showing for an inspiring portrayal of the South African student resistance and discuss what lessons we can learn from their struggle.

Tommy Robinson, ex-leader of the fascist English Defence League (EDL), has been invited to speak at the Oxford Bfrookes University on 8th March 2017

As leader of the EDL Robinson organised and led violent racist demonstrations and waged a campaign of demonisation of Muslims. EDL marchers chanted "you build your Mosques, we'll burn them down", and racially abused black and Asian people. Many EDL members have been jailed for racist violence, racial abuse and attacks on Mosques.

Robinson may have abandoned trying to lead a fascist street army for the time being due to the strength of opposition against him but he continues to incite racial hatred against Muslims under the same false flag of 'tackling extremism'. His twitter feed and facebook pages consist almost entirely of anti-Muslim postings designed to incite racist hatred, including portraying Muslims as supporters of terrorism and child abuse.

Robinson is currently trying to rebuild his fortunes using President Trump's anti-Muslim travel ban.

The last time Robinson spoke in Oxford the EDL followed with a racist march trying to stir up race hatred by exploiting the suffering of rape victims and scapegoating Muslim men as the problem, using the same arguments and language Robinson uses.

By hosting Tommy Robinson Oxford Brookes University is contributing to a climate of Islamophobia which only encourages racists fascists to launch racist attacks at a time racist atacks are on the increase. Oxford Brookes University should not be giving racists and Islamophobes the prestige of speaking at their institution and we demand Robinson's invitation is withdrawn.

A major national conference bringing together speakers, organisations and activists from anti-racist campaigns across Europe. The conference will examine the current struggle against racism in Britain and beyond such as the fight against Islamophobia and antisemitism, defending civil liberties and migrants rights and building solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the US.

The humanitarian crisis in Europe will also be discussed with the intention of developing an action plan for activists and organisations who want to campaign for more to be done for refugees.

Unite Against Fascism (UAF) and Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) are organising a trip to the Nazi’s Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

Given the alarming rise of openly anti-Semitic fascist groups and parties in much of Europe such as in Poland and Greece, UAF feels it essential to reaffirm and emphasise the need to expose today’s fascists.

We will be based in the historic city of Krakow. Until the Second World War, Krakow was one of the great Jewish centres in Europe. In March 1942 the Nazis ‘cleared out’ the ghetto and sent all the inhabitants to extermination camps. The story of the ghetto’s

liquidation and Plaszow concentration camp was made famous by Steven Spielberg’s incredible film Schindler’s List.

The purpose of the trip is to better understand the Holocaust and the Nazis. We also want to look at the Nazi threat today in Europe, such as Jobbik in Hungary, Golden Dawn in Greece, and others like the Front National in France. Moreover, that the Austrian Presidency was nearly won by the fascist FPO party, shows the need to ensure that history is learnt from.

Alongside the trip to Auschwitz and to Birkenau death camp, the itinerary includes a guided tour of Krakow’s Jewish Quarter and ghetto, ending at the Schindler factory.

In the evening, we will hold meetings on ‘Understanding the Holocaust’ and ‘Fighting fascism today’. As in past years, some trades unionists are getting sponsorship and funding from their organisations to come. Ask your trade union/community group, student union, if they may be prepared to make a contribution towards the trip. We are also looking to sponsor students to go on the trip. Please contact the UAF office for more information on this or for related enquiries.

Itinerary

Thursday 3 November

Arrive in Krakow. In the evening there will be a Welcome

meeting and a talk on ‘The rise of fascism across Europe’. Organisers will go for a meal, afterwards, you may wish to come along.

Friday 4 November

Guided tour of the Jewish Quarter (Kazimierz) and the

Krakow ghetto ending at the Schindler factory. Evening

meeting on ‘Understanding the Holocaust’. Organisers will go for a meal, afterwards, you may wish to come along.

Saturday 5 November

Trip to Auschwitz/Birkenau Concentration camp. Free

time in the evening.

Sunday 6 November

Free day to visit Krakow.

Monday 7 November

Return to Britain.

Cost:

£220 waged or £160 student/unwaged. Some twin bed rooms are available, so the cost here is £190.

This includes a guided tour of the Jewish Quarter and Ghetto, lectures and the coach trip to Auschwitz.

You will need to book your own flights. Ryanair and EasyJet run daily flights to Krakow from several UK airports.

Ask your trade union if they may be prepared to make a contribution towards the trip.

Over 250 people joined a vibrant anti-fascist protest against the EDL’s latest attempt to stir up race hatred, this time in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. In contrast the EDL were able to mobilise a pathetic 75 for their national demonstration. The counter-protest, called by UAF and High Wycombe Community Advocates, was supported by Buckinghamshire branches of PCS (DWP), UNISON Health, CWU (postal), NUT and Bucks Trades Council. Other groups gave strong support to the building the demonstration including Chiltern Peace and Justice group and Amnesty International High Wycombe. The anti racist demonstration reflected the diversity of Wycombe’s population, and was also attended by District Councillors.

The anti-racist demonstrators came out despite a strong message for everyone to stay at home and ignore the EDL, with police stressing a very heavy presence and scare stories in the press of riots. Police were also reported as threatening to use PREVENT against Muslims getting involved in the campaign to mobilise against the EDL.

Demonstrators occupied the town centre to get the message across to the public that active anti-racism is the way to beat the EDL. Determined to show the scale of resistance to the EDL the anti-fascists marched to disrupt the EDL rally with chants of “Nazi scum off our streets” “There are many many more of us than you” and “Whose streets, our streets”

The EDL will be demoralised by the scale of opposition, their dreams of building their local group in tatters. High Wycombe is now more united and organised to oppose racism and fascism.